Heat Is Big Loser In Lockout

9 Home Games Lost After Cancellations

October 29, 1998|By IRA WINDERMAN Staff Writer

If fans are the real losers in the NBA lockout, then Heat fans may stand as the biggest losers.

Before the largest negotiation session to date _ in terms of owners and players in attendance, as well as hope for an end to the four-month-old lockout _ the NBA canceled an additional two weeks of games Wednesday, knocking out the November schedule.

Matching the league high of nine lost home dates in November, the Heat now faces the possibility of playing a road-intensive schedule when, or if, the season begins.

In announcing the second block of cancellations in the NBA's 52-year history, Commissioner David Stern said the next such scheduling announcement only would come if the '98-99 season were lost.

``You can assume for each day we go, or as each week progresses, there's another week that doesn't get played,'' Stern said.

With teams losing as many as 15 games with Wednesday's curtailment, the original 82-game schedule is down to 67 games in many cases. In an interview in this week's Sporting News, Stern said 65 games was the minimal acceptable schedule. But Stern conceded Wednesday there is thought of ``recapturing'' dates, with additional games to be integrated into a potential modified schedule.

The focus Wednesday turned to the possibility of playing the next two or three seasons under a tax system on high-end salaries and the following two under a system that would require players to place a portion of salaries in escrow for repayment if their share of revenues exceeds a still-to-be-determined percentage.

``Before, we couldn't agree on a system or process,'' said Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. ``But now we've agreed on that.''

Said Knicks center Patrick Ewing, president of the union, ``We're not happy with what's on the table, but we felt a compromise had to be made.''

Such a proposal could favor the Heat.

In the short term, it could allow it to re-sign free agents Brent Barry, Eric Murdock, Mark Strickland and Keith Askins.

In addition, the escrow system in the second stage of the proposal would allow the Heat the type of flexibility it would lack under the type of hard salary cap the league had sought. For example, for 2000-2001, the Heat already is committed to nearly $33 million to the four players it has under contract that long: P.J. Brown, Jamal Mashburn, Alonzo Mourning and Voshon Lenard. Even with a team salary cap at $40 million for that season, a hard cap would have put the Heat in a pinch to round out a competitive lineup.

On the tax issue, the NBA wants to start taxing some salaries that exceed $2.6 million per season, while the players want the tax, a fund that would redistribute revenue to low-income teams, to start only with annual salaries above $18 million. With the escrow system, the league wants the players' share of the salary cap to stand at 48 percent, while the players have been talking about a threshold as high as 63 percent.

``Going back to 48 percent, that's not reasonable,'' Ewing said. ``Right now we're driving cars. They want to go back to horse and buggies.''

Heading into an evening negotiating session, Stern said, ``We may have the skeleton of a deal, but in terms of a hard negotiation on the guts of this deal, I would say we're no place yet.''

After the union drew 240 players to a rally last week in Las Vegas, only about 90 players appeared for a Wednesday evening bargaining session in New York, a session timed to coincide with an appearance by 29 management representatives at a Board of Governors meeting, which included the Heat's Micky Arison.

There was optimism among the players.

``Nothing's going to get solved overnight, but we can make some more progress,'' Nets forward Keith Van Horn said.

There also was a sense of urgency.

``We need to get this done,'' Grizzlies guard Bobby Hurley said.

Among those in attendance were Spurs center David Robinson, Pacers guard Reggie Miller and Bulls guard Michael Jordan.

``What the league is asking us to do is go to the owners and say, `You guys are paying us too much. We should give you guidelines so you don't pay us so much.' I don't think it's our position to do that,'' said Jordan, who earned $33 million last season but got into a heated argument Wednesday over owners not including franchise appreciation in their assets when computing the salary cap.

As far as the loss of the November schedule, no team was as hard hit as the Heat, which lost only four road dates. If the season were to resume on Dec. 1 with the existing schedule, it would leave the Heat with 32 home dates and 37 road dates.

November has been among the Heat's strongest months under Pat Riley. It went 9-3 in Nov. '95; 12-4 in Nov. '96; and 9-5 last November, for a 30-12 November record in Riley's first three seasons as coach.

With Wednesday's cancellations, the Heat has lost its lone home dates against the Kings, Trail Blazers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Timberwolves and Raptors.

Refund checks for season-ticket holders, along with 6 percent simple interest from the date of payment, will be mailed in early December.